She certainly was involved with Muņoz before her husband's death - maybe she was already pregnant but had a miscarriage. The marriage had to be secret because otherwise she would have lost the regency - the government at the time wanted her as regent because the alternative was one of the King's brothers (and strictly, that should have been Infante Don Carlos, although he refused it claiming the crown) so it was in the interests of the government to keep what they knew secret. As Maria Cristina's lack of sympathy for the government's liberal policies manifested themselves, publicising her secret marriage made it possible to force her to give up the regency and leave Spain. She remained devoted to Muņoz however and they had several children (one of whom was put forward, unsuccessfully, as king of Ecuador by the former president!). The Muņozmale line became extinct in 2008 when the Spanish titles passed to the daughter of the 5th Duke of Riansares, Marquess of San Agustin (the titles given by Isabel II) who also had 2 other titles from other successions, and 5th Duke of Montmorot (conferred on Muņoz by Louis-Philippe) which however became extinct with the male line.
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Following a post at the British Royal MB I just realized that Maria Cristina's wedding to Agustin Muņoz occurred on December 28th 1833.
Fernando VII had died just 3 months earlier on September 29th.
Was there anything rolling on between the Queen and Agustin during Fernando's life ?
When/how did M-C and Augustin met ?
Odd the hurry to marry just 3 months after your husband's death .
And no need for a hasty wedding as their 1 st child was born in November 1834 , 11 months after her parents wedding